An automotive closure, such as a door for an automobile passenger compartment, is hinged to swing between open and closed positions and conventionally includes a door latch that is housed between inner and outer panels of the door. The door latch functions in a well-known manner to latch the door when it is closed and to lock the door in the closed position or to unlock and unlatch the door so that the door can be opened manually. The door latch is operated remotely from the exterior of the automobile by two distinct operators--a key lock cylinder that controls the locking function and a handle or push button that controls the latching function. The door latch is also operated remotely from inside the passenger compartment by two distinct operators--a sill button or electric switch that controls the locking function and a handle that controls the latching function. Each operator is accessible outside the door structure and extends into the door structure where it is operatively connected to the door latch mechanism by an actuator assembly which in some instances include a cable assembly located inside the door structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,461 granted to Thomas A. Dzurko et al Jan. 11, 1997 for a vehicle door latch, which is hereby incorporated in this patent specification by reference, discloses a typical door latch. The door latch disclosed in the Dzurko '461 patent includes an inside latch operating lever that is pivotally mounted on a flange of a metal face plate and that is connected by a suitable linkage for rotation by an inside door handle (not shown). (See column 4, lines 10-18 of the Dzurko '461 patent.) The door latch also includes an inside lock operating lever 80 that is pivotally mounted on the flange of the metal face plate near the inside latch operating lever. The inside lock operating lever is operated by an inside sill button or lock slide. (See column 5, lines 46-58 and column 6, lines 8-15 of the Dzurko '461 patent.) The door latch disclosed in the Dzurko '461 patent is released from the passenger compartment in two stages. First, the inside lock operating lever is rotated counterclockwise by an inside sill button or lock slide to unlock the door latch. Then, the inside latch operating lever is rotated clockwise by an inside door handle to unlatch the door latch so that the vehicle door may be opened manually.
Door latches of the type disclosed in the Dzurko '461 patent have been used successfully by General Motors Corporation for many years. However, up to this time it has been necessary to provide two separate actuators for operating the two operating levers that unlock and unlatch the door from inside the passenger compartment.